“EMPLOYERS SHOULD BE STRIVING TO CREATE A MENTALLY HEALTHY WORKING ENVIRONMENT”

Over the past two years mental health in the workplace has been described as one of the most significant issues that employers need to address. In 2020 the World Health Organisation (WHO) officially classified burnout as a medical condition and in 2020/21 stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 50 per cent of all workrelated ill-health cases.

But is defining mental health solely as an ‘issue’ right for the modern workplace? Jake Mills, CEO and Founder of national mental health charity, Chasing the Stigma, thinks not.

“Right now, employers should be striving to create a mentally healthy working environment and that is very different to addressing the mental health ‘issue’. One in four people will experience a mental health issue in their lifetime, but all of us experience mental health every single day of our lives and employers need to focus on this too,” he said. “The narrative around mental health in the workplace needs to shift to acknowledge this.”

Since 2014, Chasing the Stigma has worked to challenge the stigma around mental health, create clear and consistent pathways to support groups and services, through the Hub of Hope app (www.hubofhope.co.uk) and provide training through the Ambassador of Hope programme.

Jake continued: “By acknowledging mental health as a constant and a norm and focusing on encouraging employees and ourselves to be as mentally healthy as we can be every day, we can prevent ‘mental health’ from turning into an ‘issue’, such as a mental health crisis.”

To achieve this, Jake believes that meaningful changes need to be made in workplaces to accommodate the understanding and presence of mental health in everyday life.

“This isn’t about marketable initiatives that sound snappy, they need to be created in consultation with staff to find out what they need. They also need to be year-round, not just to hit the headlines in awareness periods,’ he said. “Creating a mentally healthy environment isn’t about box-ticking, it’s about people and individual needs.”

For advice on creating a mentally healthy workplace and to learn more about the Ambassador of Hope training programmes, visit: www.chasingthestigma.co.uk/ news/workplace-mh/